Sustainable development of the West African Power Pool: Increasing solar energy integration and regional electricity trade

Abstract

The West African region is currently experiencing the challenge of meeting rapidly the growing electricity demand which has played a critical role in the low economic development rate of the region. To tackle these challenges, the West African Power Pool was established to build regional power plants and interconnected transmission infrastructures between the countries. In this study, we develop a multi-region economic dispatch model with hourly simulations to evaluate the impact of increased integration of solar PV on the interconnected West Africa electricity network. Our results show the high integration of solar PV plants reduces the supplydemand gap and load shedding in the region. All countries in the region potentially benefit from avoided generation cost and decrease in unserved electricity demand. Our study presents a sustainable strategy to diversify from hydro and gas regional projects and invest in solar PV in order to improve electricity supply and reduce the high electricity prices in the region.

Regional Integration and Energy Sustainability in Africa: Exploring the Challenges and Prospects for ECOWAS

“…This involves incorporating hydropower, wind and solar energy to electricity generation programmes. Developing a multi‐region economic dispatch model with hourly stimulations, Adeoye and Spataru () evaluated the impacts of increased integration of grid connected solar PV plants to the interconnected West Africa electricity network in year 2025. Their results showed a reduction in the supply‐demand gap in the region from 10 per cent to 5 per cent where this solar energy integration in the West African electricity market network significantly meets growing energy demand and reduces load shedding and generation costs.…”

“…It has not been able to convert these huge potentials to sufficient electricity capacity for its teeming population as average electricity consumption per capita is about 118 kWh (Ikeonu, ). Also, with an installed capacity of 10,000 MW, available generating capacity stood at 12 GW and an estimated peak demand of 25.6 GW (Adeyemo, ; Adeoye and Spataru, ). It is among the regions with the most energy production potential both from non‐renewable (oil, gas, uranium) and renewable sources such as solar, wind energy and hydroelectric power (Karaki, ).…”

“…One of the key objectives of ECOWAS is the promotion of integration in all fields of economic activity such as infrastructure (in which energy is part of it). In accelerating the pace of economic progress in the region, the WAPP was established by ECOWAS in 1999, which officially started in 2000 to build regional power plants and interconnected transmission infrastructures among the countries (Adeoye and Spataru, ). It consists of 14 member countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea‐Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.…”

“…The regional energy plan of WAPP currently focuses on integrating the huge water, coal, oil and gas resources of the region for electricity generation. However, as pointed out by Adeoye and Spataru (), impact of drought, climate change and vandalism constitute major hindrances to the plan. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate a renewable energy model such as solar energy into the plan for sustainability of the WAPP plan.…”

“…This is done with the case study of the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP). This is particularly interesting as the challenge of meeting rapidly growing electricity demand experienced in the West African region continues to play a key role in the low economic development rate of the region (Adeoye and Spataru, ). This makes regional energy systems integration a key factor in accelerated development.…”